Post by HeadMarshal on Dec 31, 2012 21:18:48 GMT -5
AMW has aired the case of the still unidentified West Mesa Serial Killer out of Albuquerque, New Mexico four times between 2009 and 2010. This perpretrator is believed to be responsible for the murders of 11 women and girls (plus an unborn fetus) who disappeared between 2003 to 2005. The victims were all found at once in an undeveloped region of Albuquerque known as the West Mesa.
Some people have floated around as possible suspects. They include Fred Reynolds, a pimp who reportedly had photos of missing prostitutes, he died of natural causes in 2009.
However, the most likely suspect people have suggested is a man named Lorenzo Montoya. In December of 2006, Montoya bound and strangled to death a female prostitute in his trailer, Montoya was then shot to death by the prostitute's boyfriend. A former prostitute said in 1995 that Montoya raped and choked her after picking her up, he said she was lucky that he didn't kill her. It should be noted that the reports of disappeared women largely stopped after Montoya was killed.
Then the FBI searched the residence of a photographer in Joplin, Missouri. However authorities have since ruled him out as a suspect.
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So while it makes sense to blame the murders on Montoya, Dan Valdez; the father of one of victims says that he thinks that Montoya wasn't the mastermind. Valdez thinks that Montoya's role was to transport the women to the West Mesa since he lived right next to the burial location. So if Montoya was involved, did he have associates that were also involved in the murders.
www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/new-lead-in-west-mesa-murders
The Albuquerque police chief suggested other suspects to the Albuquerque Tribune.
-- An Albuquerque gang who used prostitutes to smuggle narcotics and killed them to prevent them to revealing the information to the police.
-- Someone who hated prostitutes or someone who thought that they were doing the lord's work by killing prostitutes.
Additional theories include gangs that require the murder of a woman as an initation ritual or powerful political figures that are hiring hitmen to kill prostitutes. It should also be noted that the narcotics trafficking operations in Albuquerque were controlled for many years by the Juarez Drug Cartel (according to a commentator on a Mexican Drug War blog), a cartel that is well known for killing women to initate new members into two of it's street gangs along with it's La Linea hitmen group to celebrate with after trafficking narcotics into the United States by killing women (among other reasons). I just thought that may be important.
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/04/27/whos-murdering-the-prostitutes-of-albuquerque.html
www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/11/cartel-activity-likely-to-rise-in-new.html (First comment)
www.latinamericanstudies.org/drugs/inquiry.htm
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There are other disappearances of women in New Mexico that could be connected in some way to the West Mesa murders. I'll list these cases below.
Leah Peebles: Went missing in Albuquerque in 2006 after relapsing from a drug addiction in Texas. Witnesses said that she was working for a pimp named "A.J.". Authorities questioned A.J. after he was arrested in Bakersfield, California but denied he knew who Leah was.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/peebles_leah.html
Darlene Trujillo: Last seen on Jul 4, 2001 with a heroin dealer known only as "Jorge". She was apparently going on a trip to Arizona. Jorge returned weeks later and said they went to Tucumcari, New Mexico instead where they had a fight and she left their vehicle. Jorge is wanted for questioning in connection with Darlene's disappearance, but has not been located. Her family is convinced that she was abducted and taken to Mexico (nearest city being Ciudad Juarez). A family friend said a man claiming to have information regarding her whereabouts turned up murdered.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/trujillo_darlene.html
www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/us/24prostitute.html?pagewanted=all
Other missing women include prostitutes that disappeared around the same time that the 11 victims went missing. Whatever happened to them I wonder?
Felipe Gonzales: Went missing in 2005 shortly after she was released in jail.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gonzales_felipa.html
Nina Herron: Went missing outside her residence in 2005.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/herron_nina.html
Vanessa Reed: Went missing after leaving a motel in 2006.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/r/reed_vanessa.html
Anna Vigil: Went missing in 2005.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/v/vigil_anna.html
www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=64720
Admin Note: Anyone with any information on this case should contact the FBI.
Admin Note #2: If you have any (news-related) updated information on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
Some people have floated around as possible suspects. They include Fred Reynolds, a pimp who reportedly had photos of missing prostitutes, he died of natural causes in 2009.
However, the most likely suspect people have suggested is a man named Lorenzo Montoya. In December of 2006, Montoya bound and strangled to death a female prostitute in his trailer, Montoya was then shot to death by the prostitute's boyfriend. A former prostitute said in 1995 that Montoya raped and choked her after picking her up, he said she was lucky that he didn't kill her. It should be noted that the reports of disappeared women largely stopped after Montoya was killed.
Then the FBI searched the residence of a photographer in Joplin, Missouri. However authorities have since ruled him out as a suspect.
-------------------------
So while it makes sense to blame the murders on Montoya, Dan Valdez; the father of one of victims says that he thinks that Montoya wasn't the mastermind. Valdez thinks that Montoya's role was to transport the women to the West Mesa since he lived right next to the burial location. So if Montoya was involved, did he have associates that were also involved in the murders.
www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/new-lead-in-west-mesa-murders
The Albuquerque police chief suggested other suspects to the Albuquerque Tribune.
-- An Albuquerque gang who used prostitutes to smuggle narcotics and killed them to prevent them to revealing the information to the police.
-- Someone who hated prostitutes or someone who thought that they were doing the lord's work by killing prostitutes.
Additional theories include gangs that require the murder of a woman as an initation ritual or powerful political figures that are hiring hitmen to kill prostitutes. It should also be noted that the narcotics trafficking operations in Albuquerque were controlled for many years by the Juarez Drug Cartel (according to a commentator on a Mexican Drug War blog), a cartel that is well known for killing women to initate new members into two of it's street gangs along with it's La Linea hitmen group to celebrate with after trafficking narcotics into the United States by killing women (among other reasons). I just thought that may be important.
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/04/27/whos-murdering-the-prostitutes-of-albuquerque.html
www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/11/cartel-activity-likely-to-rise-in-new.html (First comment)
www.latinamericanstudies.org/drugs/inquiry.htm
------------------------------
There are other disappearances of women in New Mexico that could be connected in some way to the West Mesa murders. I'll list these cases below.
Leah Peebles: Went missing in Albuquerque in 2006 after relapsing from a drug addiction in Texas. Witnesses said that she was working for a pimp named "A.J.". Authorities questioned A.J. after he was arrested in Bakersfield, California but denied he knew who Leah was.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/peebles_leah.html
Darlene Trujillo: Last seen on Jul 4, 2001 with a heroin dealer known only as "Jorge". She was apparently going on a trip to Arizona. Jorge returned weeks later and said they went to Tucumcari, New Mexico instead where they had a fight and she left their vehicle. Jorge is wanted for questioning in connection with Darlene's disappearance, but has not been located. Her family is convinced that she was abducted and taken to Mexico (nearest city being Ciudad Juarez). A family friend said a man claiming to have information regarding her whereabouts turned up murdered.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/trujillo_darlene.html
www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/us/24prostitute.html?pagewanted=all
Other missing women include prostitutes that disappeared around the same time that the 11 victims went missing. Whatever happened to them I wonder?
Felipe Gonzales: Went missing in 2005 shortly after she was released in jail.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gonzales_felipa.html
Nina Herron: Went missing outside her residence in 2005.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/herron_nina.html
Vanessa Reed: Went missing after leaving a motel in 2006.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/r/reed_vanessa.html
Anna Vigil: Went missing in 2005.
www.charleyproject.org/cases/v/vigil_anna.html
www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=64720
Admin Note: Anyone with any information on this case should contact the FBI.
Admin Note #2: If you have any (news-related) updated information on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
